AUSTIN — Let's say Kenny Vaccaro is selected in the first round of Thursday's NFL draft, then signs a fair contract without letting a music mogul negotiate it for him.

Let's say Vaccaro never takes a Ricky Williams-like break from football to live in a tent in Australia. Let's say he never has a coach question his work ethic or mental well-being, like Vince Young's did. Let's say he avoids winding up with Cedric Benson's rap sheet, or Chris Simms' boos, or Colt McCoy's clipboard.

Let's say, instead, Vaccaro thrives in the NFL like dozens of other former Texas Longhorns before him.

Then the story won't be that Mack Brown coddles his talent. It'll be that he wastes it.

We've come to the point when, in terms of perception, Brown can't win anymore. If one of his stars falls on his face as a professional, it's because Brown didn't prepare him (“The whole coddling phenomenon is a University of Texas specialty,” a national columnist for Fox Sports wrote last month). And if another makes a Pro Bowl, as many Texas-exes do, it's viewed as evidence Brown's teams underachieved.

Sometimes, such criticism is justified. Just as often, though, it's ludicrous. This week, The Sporting News released a ranking of all 125 coaches in college football's highest division. Brown was listed 39th.

That was not a typo. The same guy who won more games than any program in America from 1998-2009, the guy with seven top-10 finishes and 10 bowl victories at UT, was held in lower esteem than Air Force's Troy Calhoun, UCLA's Jim Mora and North Carolina State's Dave Doeren.

Brown's never coached against those relative youngsters, but a track record wouldn't matter anyway. He's 8-2 in his career against Mike Leach, he's 6-2 against Mike Gundy and last season he beat Hugh Freeze by five touchdowns on the road. According to The Sporting News, all three of those coaches are better than he is.

The only explanation is Brown makes an easy target. Leach emulates pirates, Gundy rants about being a man, and Freeze has become his generation's Coach February, and yet, universally, roasting Brown seems like more fun.

Part of that he brings upon himself. He is overprotective of his players. He does lose games to teams with less talent. And given all of the resources and inherent advantages at UT, maybe there are 38 coaches who would have won more than 22 games in the past three years.

So no one is going to feel sorry for him, especially when he's still earning more than $5 million per year. But when Vaccaro — who wasn't listed among the top-40 recruits in Texas four years ago — walks onto the stage in New York and dons the hat of an NFL team Thursday, no one will give Brown any credit, either.

This is how this stuff works, and Brown knows it. The Longhorns had an unparalleled 11 defensive backs in the NFL last year, but that's attributed to secondary coach Duane Akina. They had 45 active players overall, third most of any college program. But that just showed they can recruit. Five of those alums made the Pro Bowl, so why didn't Brown win more when they were around?

That brings us to one of draft night's few certainties. No one can be sure if Vaccaro will be a steal or a bust. But either way, somehow Brown's image will suffer.